A week of work experience at Davis Brown by Jamie

Jamie spent a week at Davis Brown estate agents and chartered surveyors in W1 to learn all about the different areas of our industry. Read his diary to find out what a week in the life of Davis Brown was like.

Monday

I arrived at Davis Brown estate agents and chartered surveyor’s offices in Fitzrovia bright and early on Monday morning. I was introduced to all of the staff, including the office dog Bertie and then spent the morning with David Green and Tony How – registered valuers at Davis Brown. We went to a Brownfield site to take some photos and I listened to them discuss development ideas which was fascinating. We then took a look at dropped curbs and developments that would facilitate the local residents and community. As Chartered Surveyors in W1, Davis Brown has many interesting projects and clients across the city.

Tuesday

I spent Tuesday with the property management department at Davis Brown, W1. I accompanied Graham King, the Residential and Commercial Property Management manager, on inspections of water meters which was a great way to see all of the different properties Davis Brown estate agents manage in Fitzrovia and W1. This was so interesting to me as I had the opportunity to see different ages and styles of buildings and draw comparisons between modern day property and older property – for example one property on Great Portland Street still had an old fashioned fuse box!

Wednesday

Wednesday morning I spent with Anthony Thompson, a chartered surveyor at the Fitzrovia based Davis Brown. He took me to a derelict but beautiful house in W1 which was built in 1775 by Robert Adam. Major refurbishment works were being done and Anthony was there to discuss how to best water proof a large section of the site. This was insightful as the trip encompassed both looking at the works done, and the health and safety rules and regulations that have to be abided by.

In the early afternoon on Wednesday, Tony Guergis gave me a talk on Party Wall Matters. He is one of the building surveyors at Davis Brown chartered surveyors in W1 and I learnt a lot from him. David Moon, the building surveyor at Davis Brown Chartered Surveyors in W1, then took me to a wonderful Georgian property on Fitzroy Square. He was there to take a look at a party wall matter with another surveyor as there are works being done on the next door building. Party Wall’s is not something I knew about before I was introduced to the subject by David Moon and it was a really good learning experience.

Thursday

On Thursday, I spent the day with the Residential team at Davis Brown estate agents in Fitzrovia and was lucky enough to accompany Sarah-Jane, the residential negotiator, to some viewings at a selection of flats they have to rent in W1. It was a busy day but also a wonderful opportunity to learn about residential sales and lettings. The most interesting part of the day was discussing the differing price of property, and the factors on which they depend such as size, location etc.

Friday

To end a brilliant week at Davis Brown estate agents and chartered surveyors in Fitzrovia, Emma How the residential manager asked me to draw up a floorplan of the whole of the office. This is no easy task, as Davis Brown’s office in Fitzrovia is a town house, split over 6 floors!

After several hours and a large amount of determination, I came up with a 5 page floorplan and felt that this was a wonderfully constructive way to wrap up the week.

Davis Brown is an independent firm of Chartered Surveyors. We therefore have a considerable depth of local knowledge in the property market. We act for a wide variety of clients including corporates, PLC’s, charitable foundations, private individuals, Trusts and offshore companies. Our professional department covers an extensive range of services which include inter alia valuations, acquisitions, sales, building surveying, project management, party wall awards, Energy Performance Certificates, schedule of dilapidations and suchlike.